Work with me
I work with boards, investors, founders, operators and legal teams when a complex technical or commercial issue needs independent judgement, clear evidence and practical strategic advice.
Engagement fit
When to contact me
I am most useful when a board, investor, founder, legal team, university or corporate leadership team must make a consequential decision about an emerging technology and needs judgement that connects technical evidence with commercial reality.
Board and NED Opportunities
For technology businesses and advisory boards that need founder experience, commercialisation discipline, governance perspective and independent challenge.
Investor and Technical Due Diligence
For venture capital, private equity, corporate investors and M&A teams testing technology readiness, market evidence, economics and deployment risk.
Independent Expert and Expert-Witness Support
For legal teams, boards and shareholders requiring independent technical and commercial analysis within my documented areas of experience. I do not provide legal advice.
Commercialisation and Technology Transfer
For founders, universities and companies turning research, intellectual property or a technology platform into a focused commercial proposition.
Experience before advice
I do not approach commercialisation as an abstract framework. I have helped build companies around nanoparticle measurement, graphene membranes, industrial water treatment and hydrogen refuelling. Through Cientifica, I worked on market intelligence, investment, research programmes and emerging-technology strategy for companies, investors and governments. At Element 2, I worked directly on the infrastructure, fuel, vehicle, customer and capital questions that determine whether hydrogen transport can operate.
That operating record shapes how I work. I start with the decision, identify which assumptions actually control it, and connect the technical, market, infrastructure, regulatory, organisational and capital evidence.
Evidence in practice
Examples behind the capability
Building a deployment system
I co-founded and formerly led Element 2. Its public operating record includes more than 1,500 refuelling operations and work with vehicle manufacturers, test centres, site owners, fleet operators and local authorities. The Tees Valley programme covered seven projects, 20 vehicles and three locations, including the UK’s first hydrogen refuelling of a fuel-cell electric truck.
Finding markets for science
I founded Cientifica to connect emerging science with markets, investment and policy. Public Cientifica presentations document work on global business intelligence, EU research programmes, international events and government and investor advisory projects.
Turning materials into applications
I co-founded G2O Water Technologies around graphene-coated membranes and later founded Evove. The commercial question was never simply whether graphene had remarkable properties. It was whether those properties could improve an industrial process enough to justify adoption.
Testing technology policy
I have chaired national nanotechnology initiatives, designed funding programmes and advised governments and public bodies. I also gave written and oral evidence to Parliament on graphene commercialisation, SMEs and the gap between scientific strength and economic impact.
Independent Expert & Strategic Advisory Support
Independent judgement for complex technical and commercial issues
Organisations, investors, boards, founders, shareholders and legal teams sometimes need an independent perspective when the facts are technically complex, the commercial consequences are significant and the parties involved see the situation differently.
I can assess the technical and commercial evidence, identify the assumptions controlling the issue and explain the findings clearly. Where appropriate, this can include independent-expert or expert-witness support. My role is to provide independent commercial, technical and strategic expertise. I do not provide legal advice.
Technology Commercialisation Disputes
Assessing what was technically achievable, commercially reasonable, communicated to stakeholders and required to move from development to deployment.
Shareholder, Founder and Board Matters
Helping separate questions of evidence, value, governance, performance and strategic consequence when interests or expectations diverge.
Intellectual Property and Technology Ownership
Providing commercial and technical context around patents, know-how, technology transfer, ownership, freedom to operate and the value of an IP position.
Licensing, Joint Ventures and Partnerships
Examining whether technical assumptions, responsibilities, incentives and commercial expectations align across a licence, partnership or joint venture.
Technology Valuation and Investment Evidence
Testing whether claimed value is supported by technical readiness, defensibility, applications, customers, deployment requirements and realistic routes to market.
Commercial Agreements and Performance
Assessing the technical and commercial context surrounding an agreement, including assumptions, deliverables, dependencies and the consequences of performance or non-performance.
What I bring
- Independent judgement grounded in evidence
- Founder, operator and board perspective
- Technical understanding across frontier technologies
- Commercialisation, investment and market experience
- Clear written and oral communication
- Ability to explain complex issues to non-specialists
Public evidence behind the capability
- Twenty-five years managing research projects and licensing intellectual property
- Written and oral Parliamentary evidence on graphene IP and commercialisation
- Published work on shareholder dynamics, board conflict and decision documentation
- Large technical and M&A projects across four regions
- Founder experience across scientific instruments, advanced materials, water and hydrogen infrastructure
Strategic communications
Complex situations require clear, credible communication
I help leadership teams explain difficult technical and commercial issues to the people who need to understand them. That may include investors, boards, governments, customers, partners, journalists, shareholders or legal advisers.
My public communications record spans Parliamentary evidence, BBC News, TEDx, the World Economic Forum, international conferences, investor forums and more than two decades of published technology analysis. In contentious or high-pressure situations, I help establish the facts, identify what can be said with confidence and build messaging that remains accurate under scrutiny.
Investor and Board Communications
Turning technical progress, uncertainty, risk and strategic options into decision-useful information.
Stakeholder Engagement and Public Affairs
Connecting a technology or project to policy, infrastructure, market and economic priorities.
Media and Reputation
Explaining complex or contentious issues clearly and credibly when external understanding matters.
Strategic and Crisis Communications
Helping teams communicate consistently when scrutiny increases, positions diverge or an issue may affect confidence and reputation.
Engagements
Ways I work with organisations
Commercialisation and Venture Building
I help founders and leadership teams move from a broad technology platform to a valuable application, credible customer proposition and executable route to market.
Relevant experience includes NanoSight’s nanoparticle-measurement proposition, graphene membrane applications through G2O Water and Evove, and more than two decades studying why advanced-material ventures succeed or stall.
See my Technology Commercialisation framework.
Board and Strategic Advisory
I bring the perspective of a founder and operator to questions about governance, fundraising, market focus, international expansion and strategic reset.
My work connects the board decision to the evidence: customer pull, technical maturity, manufacturing, infrastructure, regulation, capital and the next proof point.
See Scale-Up Governance.
Investor, Technical and M&A Due Diligence
I provide independent deep-tech due diligence and technology market assessment, testing whether the technology, market, economics and deployment plan support the investment story. Z/Yen’s public speaker profile records my work on large technical and M&A projects across Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East.
I am most useful where a technically impressive proposition needs an independent commercial and systems-level challenge, including hydrogen due diligence and emerging-technology investment review.
Hydrogen, Infrastructure and Energy Transition
I draw on direct experience building a hydrogen-refuelling business and supporting live fleet trials. That includes infrastructure siting, fuel supply, vehicle requirements, utilisation, customers, policy and operating economics.
I help organisations identify where hydrogen is useful, where it is not, and what must align for a project to work.
Explore my Hydrogen & Energy Systems analysis.
Emerging-Technology and Policy Foresight
Through Cientifica, the World Economic Forum and public-policy work, I have examined how emerging technologies move from research funding and excitement into industrial capability and economic impact.
I help organisations distinguish durable structural change from short-lived technology narratives.
Explore my Nanotechnology Archive.
Speaking and Executive Briefings
I brief boards and leadership teams and speak at conferences, investor forums and policy events. My public record includes TEDx, BBC News, MIT linQ, EmTech Spain, the Forecourt Summit, Parliament and international nanotechnology and hydrogen forums.
I tailor the session to the decisions the audience must make.
See Speaking & Media.
Questions I can help answer
- Which application creates enough value to support a business?
- Why is a promising technology not progressing beyond pilots?
- Does the investment case survive a deployment-level review?
- What should the board demand before committing more capital?
- Which infrastructure, regulatory or adoption barrier controls growth?
- What evidence will turn interest into a customer decision?
Relevant domains
- Hydrogen, energy transition and infrastructure
- Advanced materials, graphene and nanotechnology
- Water technologies, membranes and industrial systems
- Robotics, physical AI and industrial sensing
- Scientific instruments and semiconductor systems
- Space and frontier technologies
Discuss the issue
What needs independent judgement, and what evidence will resolve it?
Send me a concise description of the issue, the parties involved, the decision or proceeding it informs and the timescale. I will tell you directly whether my commercial, technical and communications experience is relevant.
Frequently asked questions
Do you provide legal advice?
No. I provide independent commercial, technical and strategic expertise. Legal advice and representation remain the responsibility of appropriately qualified legal advisers.
Can you support a legal team or formal dispute process?
Potentially. I can provide independent-expert or expert-witness support where the issue falls within my technical and commercial experience and the scope and independence requirements are clear.
What is the best first step?
Send me a concise description of the issue, decision, timescale, stakeholders and any independence considerations. I will use the first conversation to establish whether I can help and what a proportionate engagement would look like.
Can we begin with a short diagnostic?
Yes. I often begin with a focused diagnostic or decision workshop to identify the assumptions and evidence controlling the issue before a longer engagement.
Do I work internationally?
Yes. I have advised on technical and M&A projects across Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East.
Selected external references
- My written evidence to the UK Parliament Graphene inquiry
- My oral evidence to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee
- My World Economic Forum articles and contributor page
- China-UK green hydrogen webinar and speaker details
- Element 2 Tees Valley operating case study
- Cientifica: The Nanotech Economy